More than 90 % of the Internet was shut down in Syria Thursday as rebel clashes with Bashar al-Assad 's forces were reported near the Damascus airport .

It 's not the first time the Web has been blocked in the war-torn country , but the move toward the airport could be highly significant , said retired U.S. Army Gen. Mark Kimmitt , who worked as assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs under President George Bush .

Damascus , the capital , is the seat of al-Assad 's power . It is also home to many Syrians who belong to the Alawite sect . The al-Assads are Alawite .

Rebels fighting al-Assad 's forces and possibly winning at or near the airport `` would have a psychological affect , '' Kimmitt explained . `` The civilians in Damascus will feel cut off from the outside world . ''

The Alawites , he said , understand there are very few alternatives other than staying in Syria now , but if rebels take the airport , they would likely feel trapped . Some will go on about their lives , a coping mechanism , he said . Some will flee to neighborhood countries , while others may actually choose to take a stronger position in defending al-Assad .

Strategically , Kimmitt noted that most of the military 's aircraft are being flown out of bases elsewhere in the country .

The road to Damascus International Airport was shut down because the rebels and the military were fighting on the outskirts of the city , said the opposition-supporting , London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights .

Egypt Air is canceling flights to Syria starting Friday , said Egypt Air spokesman Mohamed Rahma .

The airline cited a `` deteriorating situation '' around the Damascus airport , a Cairo airport official said , according to Egyptian semi-official news agency Al-Ahram .

On the other side , government-run TV ran an urgent banner saying that the road to Damascus International Airport had been secured after `` terrorists '' attacked cars .

Al-Assad 's regime has routinely blamed terrorists for the violence in the country .

Internet blocked

Also Wednesday , most Internet access in Syria was shut down , according to the Internet monitoring group Renesys .

It was not clear who was behind the latest outage , but the government has intermittently cut off Internet access several times in the past two years .

Opposition activists often transmit updates about the civil war in reports and images on the Web .

Syria state TV reports that the government 's minister of communications said maintenance workshops were working on `` fixing the blackout in the main communication and Internet network in a number of Syrian provinces . ''

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said that in response to government Internet-related actions , the United States has given `` a thousand pieces of non-lethal equipment -- largely communications gear '' to help opposition activists get around the cyber roadblocks .

He spoke in Washington on Wednesday about the humanitarian situation in the country . He talked to CNN Thursday .

`` The Syrian government has been monitoring -LRB- the Internet -RRB- for years . They have been using the Internet with Iranian assistance to track opposition activists , arrest and kill them , '' Ford said .

`` That is the reason why our non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition , we put a special emphasis on communications equipment precisely to help the Syrian people tell the world what is going on inside Syria , '' he said .

`` A lot of the pictures that you see on the nightly news are from communication equipment that we supply to very brave and very dedicated opposition activists inside Syria , '' Ford said . `` We have provided over a thousand pieces of non-lethal equipment -- largely communications gear to help them get around the restrictions on the Internet that the Syrian government imposes . ''

But Kimmitt , asked by CNN to respond to Ford 's comments , said he thinks the gear that United States has provided has not been enough .

`` I think it 's an attempt on the part of the -LRB- Obama -RRB- administration , albeit it has an insufficient amount of support for the rebels , '' the former general said . `` What side of history are we going to end up ?

`` To suggest a thousand pieces of equipment has made a difference -- I would turn back to the number of casualties we 've seen . ''

About 40,000 civilians have been killed since the first protests began in March 2011 against al-Assad 's government , according to the opposition Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria . Meanwhile , more than 380,000 Syrians have fled the violence and become refugees in countries such as Turkey and Lebanon , the United Nations reports .

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria , the group that speak for the rebels , said Thursday that at least 20 people were killed and more than 80 wounded in an airstrike in a residential area , the Al-Ansari district in Aleppo .

Most of the wounded were children , they said .

An anti-Assad activist in Aleppo uploaded videos of the attack . One shows children being dug out of rubble and rushed away . In another video on older man appears dazed as he carries the remains of a bomb .

He says : `` This is a gift from Bashar to the people of Al-Ansar district . Look at the building over there . Two floors have been destroyed , and this is part of the rocket that destroyed these buildings . ''

Rebels claim to shoot down military aircraft

On Wednesday , villagers in northern Syria picked pieces of a downed fighter jet from an olive grove after rebel fighters claimed to have shot down three government aircraft in 24 hours .

Al-Assad 's government has relied increasingly on air power to battle the 21-month-old revolt against it , and witnesses said a cheer went up when the jet went down near Aleppo .

`` We want to take this ... to show them in the other villages , '' a man who identified himself as Abu Dargham told CNN as he showed off two twisted chunks of metal . `` Let them see what happened to these planes . ''

The downed plane 's tail was largely intact , but the fuselage was in pieces and the type of aircraft was not immediately identifiable . Locals picked it apart , some of them stuffing pieces into bags as a tractor hauled away what appeared to be an engine . Cheering children were piled on the tractor as it drove away .

Witnesses said two fliers ejected from the plane before the crash . One was found unconscious and taken to a makeshift clinic , while villagers said they were still searching for the other late Wednesday .

Rebels posted two videos online to support their claims . One shows rebels carrying an unconscious man wearing what looks like a military pilot uniform , while another includes footage of medics bandaging a bloodied and moaning man .

`` Here is the pilot who was shelling houses of civilians ! '' someone says off-camera . `` The heroes of Darret Ezza shot down his plane ! ''

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Rebels clash with the military near the Damascus airport , according to reports

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The airport is a key location for Bashar al-Assad 's regime

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A U.S. observer says taking the airport would be a `` psychological blow ''

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More than 90 % of Internet access is blocked in Syria , a monitoring group says